Cell Membrane Oscillations under Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Modulation
Author: Li Lin1, Marshall R McCraw2, Berkin Uluutku2, Yi Liu3, Dayun Yan1, Vikas Soni1, Alex Horkowitz1, Xiaoliang Yao1, Ruby Limanowski1, Santiago D Solares2, Isak I Beilis4, Michael Keidar1
Affiliation:
1 Micropropulsion and Nanotechnology Laboratory, School of Engineering and Applied Science, George Washington University, 800 22nd St. NW, Suite 3100, Washington, D.C. 20052, United States of America.
2 Scanning Probe Microscopy Laboratory, School of Engineering and Applied Science, George Washington University, 800 22nd St. NW, Suite 3900, Washington, D.C. 20052, United States of America.
3 School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University, 800th Dongchuan Rd., Shanghai 200240, People's Republic of China.
4 School of Electrical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Wolfson Building, Chaim Levanon St 30, 6997801 Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel.
Conference/Journal: Langmuir
Date published: 2023 Feb 20
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c03181. , Word Count: 191
Cell responses to external radiofrequencies (RF) are a fundamental problem of much scientific research, clinical applications, and even daily lives surrounded by wireless communication hardware. In this work, we report an unexpected observation that the cell membrane can oscillate at the nanometer scale in phase with the external RF radiation from kHz to GHz. By analyzing the oscillation modes, we reveal the mechanism behind the membrane oscillation resonance, membrane blebbing, the resulting cell death, and the selectivity of plasma-based cancer treatment based on the difference in the membrane's natural frequencies among cell lines. Therefore, a selectivity of treatment can be achieved by aiming at the natural frequency of the target cell line to focus the membrane damage on the cancer cells and avoid normal tissues nearby. This gives a promising cancer therapy that is especially effective in the mixing lesion of the cancer cells and normal cells such as glioblastoma where surgical removal is not applicable. Along with these new phenomena, this work provides a general understanding of the cell coupling with RF radiation from the externally stimulated membrane behavior to the cell apoptosis and necrosis.
PMID: 36802616 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c03181
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